A barrier stood in the middle of the huge arena, stopping Zen from exploring the other half.
'There's nothing worth worrying about.' Zen concluded after a thorough look around.
The members of the [Pyrox] appeared on the other side not too late. They scrutinized Zen with cold eyes, their presence seeking to suppress him.
The members of the [Pyrox] were humanoid, but every last of them possessed an inhuman part of their own.
Monstrous claws, demonic tails, weird horns and some were half monsters too. They had features that would make them standout anywhere.
[The broadcast has begun!]
The artificial dungeon's system grew noisy.
[The platinum rank challenge will begin in 1 minute! The betting options have been enabled temporarily.]
"A solo...?"
"The [Pyrox]....they aren't a group that can be underestimated."
"They are the prime candidates to bet."
Many people entered the live broadcast, speaking to each other in hushed voices.
To them, going solo against such an organization was reckless. Many who crossed paths with Zen Shigaraki were unsure - they never saw him go all out.
Cheok Jungyeong: "That's how a real warrior should fight! I like the brat's spirit!"
Boss signaled Cheok Jungyeong to be silent and watched the live broadcast with keen interest.
Jain: "...I think he is being reckless...right~?"
After having gathered almost all of Zen's information, Jain had an idea on his strength and it still wasn't at the level where he could take on so many djinn.
Most if not all djinn have physiques comparable to an intermediate hero, even if their attack strength lagged behind. Underestimating them would lead to no good outcome.
Jain had an idea on Zen's gift and still felt it would be hard.
"....I verified it a moment ago, he is the one who caused the 'demolition incident'." Boss spoke her mind directly.
"....." Jain
"Ohhhhh. Now I feel like fighting him myself! Kuhahahaha!" Cheok Jungyeong laughed maniacally.
...
Seeing there was only 30 seconds left on the counter, Zen jumped a few meters away from the barrier and clutched his shirt.
Tear~
Thinking the shirt would just get in the way, Zen tore it off immediately. His body was well built, similar to the 18 year old All for one from MHA.
An benefit from his gift [Brawn boost] as it appears.
Zen focused his mind upon his body.
[Multiplier]!
Six extra hands protruded equally at both sides of his body. He felt slightly heavier but it wasn't a problem with his strength.
[Muscle augmentation] + [Rivet stab]!
Zen Shigaraki's body shone red slightly and bulked up overall. Dark lines spread across his body and his height grew by a few inches.
Black tendrils that have red prominent cracked lines sprung out of his spine and aimed forward.
Seeing there was only 5 seconds left, Zen knew it was time.
[Rewind (modified)]!
A huge grin spread across Zen Shigaraki's face as he stared at his opponents.
At this moment, in the live broadcast - Zen appeared more like a demon than the djinn opposite him.
[Start!]
[Forcefield] + [Ascension] + [Impact recoil]!
The moment the golden barrier covered Zen, dozens of djinn were already before him instantly.
Bang!
His body was launched a few metres backwards, but no attack was able to breach his modified [Forcefield] in the end.
He reinforced all his gifts and strengthened himself again.
[Brawn boost x2.6]!
The black tendrils, [Rivet stab] - extended towards the djinn's who had rushed towards him reckless. Multiple [Rivet stabs] were able to stab into their body, but couldn't pierce through them.
"You bastard!" One of the stabbed djinns bared his teeth at Zen, with hatred.
Almost instantly, the djinn's body grew fur from everywhere - transforming into a huge wolf slightly bigger than a human.
[Earth element manipulation] + [reality manipulation]!
The ground beneath them turned into a sharp rock spear and sprung towards all the djinn's - effectively pushing them back.
[Fire hounds] + [Fire's will] + [Ascension]!
Tens of hounds appeared almost out of thin air around Zen. They rushed towards the djinn, with their fire burning brightly, they were capable of melting metal easily.
With enough distraction created, Zen used [Reality manipulation] to boost his prowess further, he kept using it infinitely upon himself and the fire hounds - with his never ending mana.
'This will show the underworld what I'm capable of and the hero association won't stand back then.'
Zen couldn't even bring himself to worry, his grin grew more upwards. He wanted to destroy the hero association from the start.
The four right hands - [Air canon] + [Kinetic booster x2.6] + [brawn boost x2.6] + [Ascension]!
The four left hands - [Black lightning] + [Kinetic booster x2.6] + [Ascension] + [Excel]!
All of it was further enhanced by [Reality manipulation].
[Shadow switch] - feeling the dangerous sensation emanating from Zen - one of the djinn used his gift to appear behind him, upon his shadow.
A spear clashed with the [Forcefield], slightly pushing Zen forward, but it couldn't pierce it in the end.
"You must be the boss of [Pyrox], die....." Zen aimed one of his eight hands at the leader of his enemies and launched his ultimate attack.
Everything went black for a second.
It was as if the whole B3 arena was split in two colours - that's how it looked in the live broadcast.
[A huge damage to the dungeon has been detected...!]
[The system will go through maintenance for 2 hours....]
Everyone ignored the system and continued staring at the broadcast blankly. The fight had taken an unexpected turn from the start.
They all saw it at the end - a man, or so they thought, stood upright.
The moment the smoke dispersed, Zen's body was clearly in view to everyone. A grotesque sight that could even traumatise the bravest man - entered their vision.
More than half of Zen Shigaraki's body was destroyed, even his ribcage and the innards of his brain were slightly visible. However, his eyes still moved as if he were alive.
Golden light enveloped his body and a shocking scene played out into the broadcast.
The muscle grew back, his nerves set themselves back in place and lastly, his skin regrew to cover his body.
Before they could come to senses, the system of the dungeon rushed to conclude the broadcast and match for maintenance.
[The winner of the platinum rank challenge is - player [All for one]!]
[The broadcast has concluded!]
Zen Shigaraki looked at what was supposed to be a village - now a flatland. There were even strange glitch all over the places, as if reality had been torn open.
The backlash from using the modified [Black lightning] was more severe than expected. Without [Rewind], Zen predicted he would have died - since he did use it from four hands simultaneously.
Still having a minute left in [rewind] - Zen decided to experiment a little. He wondered if he could forcefully control this artificial dungeon with [Reality manipulation].
Mana started burning away almost instantly, when he activated [Reality manipulation] with his intentions clear.
Zen's rank was already platinum, he felt such a position was helping him now.
'Just a little bit more....!' Zen felt he could push himself to diamond rank if he continued for a few more minutes.
However, the [rewind] gift deactivated automatically soon.
"....."
It wasn't a waste of time still, Zen Shigaraki could feel it - he had refined 6% of this whole artificial dungeon.
If [Reality manipulation] could let him control it.... wouldn't it be possible to upgrade this dungeon in the future too?
He was soon teleported out of the wrecked arena.